I did another mass review, since several of the last one's headphones have been replaced. Here we have the Shure 1840, ATH M50, Philips L1, B&W P5, B&W P3 in white and black, and Sennheiser PX200ii in white and black. http://youtu.be/Em6NqwcWVqs

Dale, the impression I get from that review is that I should spend more time using EQ than trying different headphones to get the best sound.

Do you think EQ is more important than the headphone?

Do you rate Apples set EQs?

Does EQ render buying expensive headphones a waste of money?

On the first question, EQ is certainly cheaper than buying new headphones. EQ may make your existing headphone better, but not always. Some headphones just don't respond well to EQ that I've tried. So reading a lot of reviews helps.

On the second question, EQ is technically a distortion, intended to compensate an original distortion in the headphone. If you get a good inverse-match of distortions, like rogue waves canceling each other out on the ocean, that could be good, but sometimes they do the opposite and amplify each other - not so good.

On question three, Apple's ipod EQ's sometimes work great and other times don't help.

On question 4, to give one example: There is no EQ in the world that will help make a Shure 1840 that costs $700 USD as good as a Sennheiser HD800 that costs $1500 USD. But on the other hand, someone whose budget is very limited and can't afford more than say, $50 USD for a Sennheiser PX200ii, or more than $200 USD for a B&W P3, may find that those options with EQ can make the best of their investment and budget.